Tenney embraces Trump at fundraiser amid protests

UTICA — Donors to Rep. Claudia Tenney’s reelection effort lined up in front of an empty store, and walked into a fundraiser from the back. Other supporters stood along Genesee Street, with “Indict Cuomo” signs and MAGA hats, waving at the honking — and cursing — drivers. The protesters, numbering more than a thousand, chanted around a chicken balloon with golden hair.

A fundraiser with President Donald Trump is usually unalloyed political gold for a red-state Republican. But it’s a bit more complicated here in the president’s home state, where a throng of protesters gathered for blocks amid an intermittent summer drizzle, far outnumbering those who paid at least $1,000 for the event in the Hotel Utica or carried Trump banners outside.

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Tenney (R-N.Y.) is hoping the populist conservatism that she and the president share will rev up the base as she seeks a second term representing this Central New York district in Congress against Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi (D-Utica).

Tenney said she was “excited” to host Trump for the event, which came after a bill signing ceremony at Fort Drum.

“Whether it’s taking on the bad trade deals, cutting taxes for small businesses and the middle class, or protecting our traditional values respecting our flag, respect for our veterans, supporting our farmers — our family farmers — and with Remington Arms right down the road, protecting our Second Amendment rights,” Tenney said during the event, “President Trump is truly a voice for the forgotten men and women of our region and our country."

It was Trump’s first visit to upstate New York since his election, and he became the first president since Harry Truman to come through Utica. He has pledged to campaign vigorously in the run-up to the midterm elections, and the counties north of New York City are home to five seats that Democrats are targeting this year — including Tenney’s.

But the Empire State is generally sour on its favorite son: a Siena Research Institute poll released in June showed Trump’s favorability at 38-59 statewide, and 41-55 in upstate areas. Some incumbents like Rep. John Faso (R-N.Y.) have put space between themselves and the president, and broke ranks on key legislation like the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

That’s there and this is here. Trump carried Oneida County by almost a 2-1 margin — something that 64-year-old Trump supporter Marty Droz noted as he carried a “Stronger Together” Trump sign just outside the Hotel Utica on Thursday afternoon.

“If you’re for less government, you’re for Trump. If you’re for lower taxes, you’re for Trump,” Droz said. “I support the president. The only issue this election is, do you [as a member of Congress] support the agenda or not?”

These are exactly the kinds of supporters Tenney needs to mobilize, according to Luke Perry, director of the Utica College Center for Public Affairs and Election Research.

“What we’ve seen is Brindisi try to run a moderate race. He sparingly criticizes the president, and in contrast, we’ve seen Rep. Tenney run to the right,” he told POLITICO. “Her strategy is that President Trump outperformed her in 2016, and she needs to widen her base … and turn out Republicans.”

Perry said the district is a moderate one, and pointed to longtime representatives like Sherwood Boehlert and Richard Hanna, both of whom were Republicans. Tenney unsuccessfully challenged Hanna in a Republican primary in 2014; he opted not to seek re-election two years later, and endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016.

He wasn’t surprised to see Trump draw such a protest crowd, which organizers estimated at between 1,300 and 1,700 people. Around 100 pro-Trump demonstrators also came out, and roughly 50 people greeted the president’s plane when it landed at the former Griffiss Air Force Base in nearby Rome.

Most demonstrators who spoke to POLITICO said they were motivated by their disgust with Trump and, in a mirror image of the president’s supporters, said they saw Tenney as an extension of him.

“She appears to be driven just by Donald Trump, not our community,” said Edie Danovitz, 57 and a former Hanna supporter. “We are a diverse community. We are an immigrant community, and she doesn’t support us on issues like health care.”

The demonstrators inflated a chicken caricature of the president and chanted “Lock Him Up” and “One Term Tenney.” Some were organized by Planned Parenthood, Citizen Action and Indivisible groups. At one point, someone threw something on demonstrators from an apartment building above, but rally-goers generally were separated by Genesee Street and confined their conflict to shouting.

Situated along the Mohawk River and Erie Canal with railroad access to the Adirondack Mountains, Utica has been a center for regional manufacturing and banking since it was first settled in the late 18th century. Water-powered mills gave way to steam-based textiles, which gave way to military electronics made by General Electric.

As the factories shuttered, the familiar story of de-industrialization played out with force: the city’s population now is about 35 percent lower than its peak in the 1950s. The lack of a major college has led to a slower rebound than some other upstate cities, and efforts by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and others to establish high-tech industry have largelysputtered.

Its recent evolution has been colored by an influx of refugees from Africa and the former Yugoslavia. On Bleecker Street between the Hotel Utica and Roma’s Sausage & Deli — where a half-sheet of famous tomato pie sells for $9 — you pass a Bosnian mosque, women in colorful hijabs and the EcuaMex Deli.

Tenney’s district starts to the north, on the shores of Lake Ontario, and stretches south through Binghamton to the Pennsylvania border. There are about 5,300 more active Republicans than Democrats here in Oneida County, according to the New York State Board of Elections, but the advantage is more than 30,000 across the eight-county district.

Tenney notes that Trump carried her district by 15.5 points, while Mitt Romney squeaked out a win by less than a point. She has broken from other Republicans in the state in her embrace of Trump and his policies, affirming bills to repeal the Affordable Care Act and to enact the $1.5 trillion tax law.

A Tenney spokeswoman declined to estimate how much money was raised during the event, whose attendees came from as far away as New York City and Buffalo. Brindisi and Tenney have so far raised $1.9 million for their campaigns, but he had about $400,000 more on-hand than Tenney as of June 30.

Tickets for the Trump event topped out at $15,000. Brindisi held his own counter fundraiser at a nearby bar, with a maximum ticket price of $150.

In the Hotel Utica, Trump said Tenney was “incredible” and “hopefully we put Claudia right over the top, which is where she belongs."

He also bashed Cuomo and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, both of whom are running for reelection this year and are mentioned as potential 2020 presidential candidates.